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{{Short description|Queen and regent of the Indian Vakataka dynasty}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2015}}
{{Use Indian English|date=December 2015}}
{{Infobox royalty
| succession =
| reign = c. 390 - 410 CE
| spouse = [[Rudrasena II]]
| issue = Divakarasena, [[Damodarasena]] and [[Pravarasena II]]
| father = [[Chandragupta II]]
| mother = Kuberanaga
}}
{{Vakataka Infobox}}
'''Prabhavatigupta''' (died {{circa|443}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bakker |first1=Hans |title=The Vakatakas: An Essay in Hindu Iconology |date=1997 |publisher=Egbert Forsten |location=Groningen |isbn=9069801000 |page=170}}</ref>), was a [[Gupta Empire|Gupta]] princess and [[Vakataka]] queen who was the consort of Maharaja [[Rudrasena II]]. Following the death of her husband, she effectively ruled the Vakataka kingdom as [[regent]] from about 390 to 410.

==Early life==
Prabhavatigupta was the daughter of [[Chandragupta II]], the ruler of the [[Gupta empire]], and queen Kuberanaga. She married Rudrasena II of the Vakataka dynasty during the reign of Rudrasena's father, [[Prithivishena I]].<ref name="singh">{{cite book|last1=Singh|first1=Upinder|authorlink1=Upinder Singh|title=A history of ancient and early medieval India : from the Stone Age to the 12th century|date=2009|publisher=Pearson Longman|location=New Delhi|isbn=978-81-317-1677-9|page=482|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pq2iCwAAQBAJ|accessdate=10 August 2016}}</ref> Rudrasena had a short reign of only about five years before he died. Prabhavatigupta had three sons with Rudrasena - Divakarasena, Damodarasena, and Pravarasena - but none of them were adults at the time of their father's untimely death.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shastri |first1=Ajay Mitra |title=Vakatakas: Sources and History |date=1997 |publisher=Aryan Books International |isbn=9788173051234 |page=182}}</ref>

==Regent of the Vakataka Realm==
Divakarasena, the eldest son of Rudrasena and Prabhavatigupta, was the ''Yuvaraja'' or Crown Prince of the Vakataka kingdom. Since he was still a child, Prabhavatigupta assumed the reigns of government and ruled in his name. We know that Prabhavatigupta ruled for at least 13 years as a regent because her [[Pune]] grant is dated to the thirteenth year of her own rule, where she calls herself "Mother of the ''Yuvaraja'' Divakarasena". It seems that Prabhavatigupta retained control of the Vakataka government even after Crown Prince Divakarasena reached his sixteenth year and was no longer a minor, as there is no evidence that Divakarasena ever ascended his paternal throne as ''Maharaja''. Prabhavatigupta's continued political dominance may be either due to some special circumstances which prevented Divakarasena from ruling in his own name, or simply due to Prabhavatigupta's own love of power.<ref name="sircar">{{cite book |author1=D.C. Sircar |editor1-last=Majumdar |editor1-first=R.C. |title=The Classical Age |date=1997 |publisher=Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan |pages=180-181 |edition=Fifth}}</ref>

Divakarasena was eventually succeeded by his younger brother [[Damodarasena]] around 410. It is possible that for a time, Prabhavatigupta acted as regent on his behalf as well.<ref>Shashtri (1997), p. 183</ref> During Prabhavatigupta's time in power, Gupta influence over the Vakatakas reached its peak. Prabhavatigupta's inscriptions provide her own Gupta genealogy and emphasize her own natal connections. Her ''[[gotra]]'' is given as Dharana, which was the ''gotra'' of her father, rather than the Vishnuvriddha ''gotra'' of the Vakataka dynasty.<ref>Singh (2016), p. 483</ref> Indeed, for the 20 or so years of Prabhavatigupta's regency, the Vakataka realm was "practically a part of the Gupta empire."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kulke |first1=Hermann |last2=Rothermund |first2=Dietmar |title=A History of India |date=2004 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9780415329200 |page=91 |edition=Fourth}}</ref>

==Later life==
Prabhavatigupta remained active in public life for a couple decades after the end of her regency. We find her making a grant in the 19th year of the reign of her son [[Pravarasena II]] (c.420-455), where she is called "mother of the illustrious ''Maharajas'' Damodarasena and Pravarasena".<ref name = "sircar" /> She was still alive four years later, when Pravarasena II made a grant for the spiritual welfare of both himself and his mother in this life and the next.<ref>{{cite book |author1=A.S. Altekar |editor1-last=Majumdar |editor1-first=R.C. |editor2-last=Altekar |editor2-first=A.S. |title=The Vakataka-Gupta Age |date=2007 |publisher=Motilal Banarsi Dass |isbn=9788120800434 |page=104}}</ref> In the Patna Museum Plate, all the religious merit from Pravarasena's donation is said to accrue to the Queen Mother.<ref>Bakker (1997), pp. 23-24</ref> Prabhavatigupta seems to have deeply concerned herself with religious matters, as she is described as a devotee of Bhagavat ([[Vishnu]]) and issued a charter from the feet of her tutelary deity Ramagirisvamin, identified with the deity at Ramtek near [[Nagpur]].<ref name = "sircar" /><ref>{{cite book |author1=A.S. Altekar |editor1-last=Yazdani |editor1-first=Ghulam |title=The Early History of the Deccan |date=1960 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=178-179}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Gupta Empire]]
[[Category:Vakataka dynasty]]
[[Category:4th-century women rulers]]
[[Category:5th-century women rulers]]
[[Category:History of Maharashtra]]

Prabhavatigupta - Revision history

->Aciram: removed Category:Ancient women regents using HotCat already in subcat